Discover the 10 Albums that changed Sebastian Bach’s life

Former Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach was raised on some of the best hard rock and heavy metal ever released — and it began with Christmas gifts from his father. In fact, Bach could go on forever about his favorite albums.

Hard rock and heavy metal played a key role in shaping the career of Sebastian Bach of Skid Row fame. Publicity photo

He started to rattle off the entire Rush catalog, too, and then added: “I know I gave you more than 10 albums, dude, but there were a lot of albums that changed my life. And I gotta say the first Skid Row album, because that one changed my life more than any other record.” Bach has been releasing some quality records himself over the years. His latest is the strong-sounding “Kicking & Screaming,” released in September 2011.

1. KISS, “Alive!” My dad gave me it for Christmas when I was 8 or 9, and I will never f**ing forget it.

2. Ted Nugent, “Weekend Warriors” For the cover alone. My dad gave me “Kiss Alive” and “Weekend Warriors” the same Christmas, and that pretty much blew my mind.

3. Cheap Trick, “Dream Police” I loved Robin Zander’s voice and persona when I was a kid.

4. Van Halen, “Van Halen” I was a huge Cheap Trick fan, and my baby sitter, who was, like, 10, left her copy of “Van Halen” at my house. And it was so much dirtier than Cheap Trick, and it freaked me out. I couldn’t believe it.

5. Judas Priest, “Unleashed In The East” I couldn’t believe Rob Halford’s voice was really his voice. I remember my buddy played me “Victim of Changes” and said, “Listen to him sing!” And I said, “That’s not singing. That’s the guitar.” And he’s like, “No, that’s his voice.” I just couldn’t fathom that a human voice was capable of making those sounds.

6. Mötley Crüe, “Shout At The Devil” That album was great. I love that album, and the production of the video “Looks That Kill” was so f**king amazing.

7. Hanoi Rocks, “Two Steps From The Move” Michael Monroe was one of my heroes growing up, and that album was incredible.

8. Jeff Buckley, “Grace” When that came out in the mid-’90s ‚ to me he was the only guy really singing — like really, really singing, like the best singer I ever heard. And that album became my favorite album of the ’90s.

9. Metallica, “Kill ’Em All” I remember going through the record racks at Moondance Records in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, which is still there — a mom-and-pop record store that you should give a shout out to. And I picked up this album and I turned it around, and they were the ugliest humans that I had ever seen. I had never seen uglier people (laughs). So I bought the record just because they were so ugly. I was like “These guys are ugly, man. I’m gonna buy this!” So that was a good one.